US pending home sales unexpectedly rose in June for the first time in four months, despite ongoing supply and financing challenges facing the resale market.
The National Association of Realtors’ index of contract signings to purchase previously owned homes advanced 0.3% last month to 76.8, data out Thursday showed. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.5% drop.
The existing-home market has been under pressure over the past year as many homeowners have been hesitant to move in an environment of high mortgage rates. That’s limiting the number of available homes, while elevated prices and borrowing costs are also keeping many prospective buyers at bay.
“The recovery has not taken place, but the housing recession is over,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Given the ongoing job additions, any meaningful decline in mortgage rates could lead to a rush of buyers later in the year and into the next.”
The pending-home sales report is often seen as a leading indicator of existing-home sales given houses typically go under contract a month or two before they’re sold.
Sales rose in the Northeast and Midwest and fell in the South and the West. From a year earlier, US home purchases were down 14.8% on an unadjusted basis.
--With assistance from Chris Middleton.
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